Chicanada @ LoneStarCon. Melinda Palacio @ NHCC. Café Fresco @ Gallista Gallery

World SciFi Convention wants Chicano/mexicano programming

This past summer I ran a four-part series entitled Spic vs Spec, in which I spoke to latino participation in the U.S. spec fiction world. That world is a changin'.

Next year, one of the largest fantasy / sci-fi gatherings will be held in San Antonio, Texas. What will make it stand out is that organizers want to diversify their programming into the Spanish-speaking and mexicano world. Qué bueno!

La Bloga was recently contacted by Lone Star Con3 program organizers with the following request:

"We want to develop a Spanish Language Track to the World Science Fiction Convention. Panels might not be bilingual, but should include Spanish-speaking fans, TV shows, and unique Spanish language contributions to Science Fiction & Fantasy. We are looking for local authors from the San Antonio area to help us put together programming that would promote SF&F from Spanish language sources, who are interested in helping us develop that track along with local clubs and media."

This effort is in the beginning stages, but offers an opportunity for Chicano and mexicano spec authors and readers to enter an arena of U.S. literature that is just beginning to learn about us. It also provides us a new mechanism to take our literature to mainstream readers.

Other gente outside the San Anto area can possibly also get involved in some way. I believe there will be many opportunities and ample reason not only to attend, but to participate in enrichening this convention.

Please contact us for further info if you are interested. Note this, too: whatever is accomplished in San Anto can possibly be taken to similar conventions in the U.S. in the future. I among others are definitely interested in that. And spread the word.

LoneStarCon3, Aug. 29 - Sept. 2 2013, San Antonio, Texas, Aztlán

Melinda Palacio to read at National Hispanic Cultural Center

Award winning novelist and poet Melinda Palacio will read from and sign her new collection of poetry How Fire is a Story, Waiting at the National Hispanic Cultural Center on Saturday November 17th at 2 PM in the Salón Ortega. The event is free to the public.

According to Northwestern University Press, “Melinda Palacio’s newest poetry collection creates images that are at once heartbreaking and humorous. She tackles elemental subjects of family and childhood with the same depth and grace as that of myth making and death. As the only child of a mother who died too young, she infuses her words with longing and life, and celebrates the women who came before her. Each poem offers up the truth in a fearless and unsentimental voice.”

Melinda Palacio lives in Santa Barbara and New Orleans. Her novel Ocotillo Dreams (ASU Bilingual Press) received the Mariposa Award for Best First Book from the International Latino Book Awards. She also received the 2012 PEN Oakland-Josephine Miles Award for Excellence in Literature. She was also a finalist for the Premio Aztlán for 2011. Her poetry chap book Folsom Lockdown was the winner of Kulupi Press’ 2009 Sense of Place award. She is a contributing columnist to the Latino literature blog, La Bloga.

No doubt, her new collection of poetry explores similarly complex territory. Contact Greta Pullen at (505) 724-4752 or e-mail greta.pullen@state.nm.us.

Joe Lopez invites you to Café Fresco

Café Fresco is now open at Gallista Gallery, San Anto. We are excited about the cafe/sandwich bar re-opening at Gallista, under new management. If you're in the area, stop by and help us welcome our new cafe manager Yolanda Aravelo.
Cafe Fresco will be open Tuesday - Saturday from 7 am - 2 pm.
The Menu includes breakfast and light lunch items, such as English Muffins filled with ham, egg, and/or sausage, Buttermilk Biscuits by the dozen and half-dozen, and Hoagie sandwiches.

Enjoy local art with your coffee! - Free Wifi
Gallista Gallery, 1913 S. Flores St., San Antonio, Texas, Aztlán


Es todo, hoy,
RudyG, aka Rudy Ch. Garcia, author of The Closet of Discarded Dreams, the Chicano fantasy with a Chicano hero